Lea > Christina

The fallback whenever Christina Aguilera shows up somewhere looking f-cking busted – which is often these days – is that, well, at least she can sing…

Still?

Errrrm…

Last night?

At the Super Bowl?

The lyrics are a problem. The bigger problem was the singing. That wasn’t singing. That was forcing. Michael K from Dlisted called it “birthing”, because who else could describe it any better? But seriously, what happened to the voice? The control? It’s straight up raspy now. Really, really rough. Like it’s been burned by vicodin and tequila. Or a crack torch. Or the fumes coming out of Charlie Sheen’s house. I have no idea what’s happening there, but something ain’t right, wouldn’t you say? And the constant presence of that Federline she keeps dragging around isn’t helping.

Christina has looked f-cked for a long time. Now she sounds f-cked too. It’s trouble.

By contrast then, I rather enjoyed Lea Michele’s rendition of America The Beautiful. She has such a lovely voice. Wasn’t extra with the vocal gymnastics, although she does do that hiccup thing between notes a lot. Still, in comparison to Christina, Lea was contained. The Try was dialed down…for the most part. The eye-closing didn’t even annoy me so much. She respected the occasion, she sang it with reverence, and her attitude, from the minute she took the stage, to the last note, seemed genuinely – even to me, and you know how I feel about her – genuinely humble. Her outfit too. A white coat with tan slacks, totally unremarkable, because this was not a Rachel Green solo. I’m down with this. A lot. I know. It’s, like, totally f-cking up my sh-t. But… maybe this is what they call perspective, both in relation to Christina and also to Dianna Agron whose dullness has given me new appreciation for her co-star.